Structure · Built 1915

Elmer E. and Mary J. Perrigo House

Elmer E. and Mary J. Perrigo House
Elmer E. and Mary J. Perrigo House
Circa 1973, Massachusetts Historical Commission
Address 22-24 Colson St
MACRIS ID BIL.258
Built 1915


The two-family house at 22-24 Colson Street, at the corner of Kohlrausch Avenue in North Billerica, stands on land that was part of the old Sprake, Farmer and Colson homestead farm. Nicholas Sprake bought the farm "with a Dwelling house and Barn" in 1724; Oliver Farmer Jr. acquired it from the Sprake estate in 1787 and 1790 and left it by his will in 1839 to his son-in-law Israel A. Colson, who deeded "my Homestead Farm" to his son George F. Colson in 1884.

After George F. Colson died, his administrator Edgar F. Twombly and his heirs conveyed the farm in 1914 to Charles H. McIntire of Lowell as trustee, and the land was laid out as the house lots of Colson Heights (Plan Book 31, Plan 88). This house stands on lot B, the corner lot on the west side of Colson Street and the south side of what was then "a proposed street called Kohlrausch street": 63 feet on Colson Street and about 101 feet on the avenue, 5,925 square feet in all.

On September 14, 1914 McIntire sold lot B for $300 to Mary J. Perrigo, wife of Elmer E. Perrigo, who had just bought the neighboring lots A and C (18-20 Colson Street). Her deed describes only "one certain lot of land." When she passed the lot to Walter A. Perrigo on April 21, 1916 it was conveyed "with the buildings thereon," so the house was built for the Perrigos between the fall of 1914 and the spring of 1916, a decade earlier than the assessor's date of about 1927. Walter A. Perrigo sold it in August 1916 to Ellen M. Guyette of Lowell, who sold it within weeks, on September 29, 1916, to John Muir of Manchester, New Hampshire.

Muir sold the house on August 1, 1918 to Wallace W. Brown of Billerica, taking back a $3,000 mortgage, and Brown sold it on October 28, 1921 to Harrison M. Rainie. The relocation of Colson Street by the Middlesex County Commissioners in 1922 took a strip along the front, and every later deed of the lot is made subject to it. Rainie and his wife Alice B. Rainie kept the house for nearly twenty years and sold it on June 15, 1940 to Fred M. Wicks and his wife Nina O. Wicks; the deed notes that "the buildings on said premises are now numbered 11 on said Colson street."

The Wickses owned the house for forty years. Nina O. Wicks, by then a widow, sold it in March 1980, when the buildings were "now numbered 22-24 on said Colson Street." When the house was surveyed that year it was described as a two-story, two-family house with porches on two levels across the front and south side. It has since passed between private owners, in 1980, 1986, 1990, 1999, 2003 and, most recently, in 2016.



Elmer E. and Mary J. Perrigo House
Colson Heights, 1914 (Plan 31/88)


References

  1. MACRIS BIL.258
  2. Billerica assessor, parcel 15-191-0, 22-24 Colson St


Title References

Date Type Grantor Grantee Summary Recorded
July 14, 1726 Deed William Grimes of Billerica William Chandler of Billerica 26/96 (South)
July 14, 1726 Deed Samuel Fassett of Billerica William Chandler of Billerica 26/97 (South)
June 15, 1726 Deed William Chandler of Billerica, with Susannah his wife releasing dower Nicholas Sprake of Billerica 25/453 (South)
1768 Will Estate of Nicholas Sprake of Billerica, clothier His sons Nicholas, Samuel and John Sprake and daughters Probate #21112
October 2, 1784 Quitclaim John Sprake and Samuel Sprake of Billerica, husbandmen Their brother Nicholas Sprake Jr. of Billerica, husbandman 85/549 (South)
October 2, 1784 Quitclaim Samuel Sprake of Billerica, husbandman His brother Nicholas Sprake Jr. of Billerica 85/551 (South)
1784 Administration and Dower Estate of Nicholas Sprake (Jr.) of Billerica, yeoman, deceased intestate His widow Margaret Sprake, administratrix (dower), and his heirs Probate #21114
October 4, 1794 Administrator's Deed Margaret Sprake of Billerica, administratrix of Nicholas Sprake Oliver Farmer Jr. of Billerica, yeoman 117/293 (South)
February 27, 1813 Quitclaim Samuel Sprake of Litchfield, N.H., and Anna his wife, Rebekkah Sprake and Susanna Sprake of Billerica Oliver Farmer Jr. of Billerica, yeoman 203/372 (South)
1839 Will Estate of Oliver Farmer (1760-1839) of Billerica, yeoman His son-in-law Israel A. Colson, residuary devisee and executor Probate #7205
November 8, 1884 Warranty Deed Israel A. Colson of Billerica, unmarried George F. Colson of Billerica 170/272
July 13, 1914 Administrator's Deed Edgar F. Twombly of Billerica, administrator of the estate of George F. Colson Charles H. McIntire of Lowell (trustee for the Colson heirs) 525/316
July 13, 1914 Deed in Trust George R. Colson, Clara E. Colson and Edgar F. Twombly of Billerica (heirs of George F. Colson), with Elizabeth E. Colson and Sabina G. Twombly Charles H. McIntire of Lowell, trustee 525/318
1914 Trustee's Deed Charles H. McIntire of Lowell, trustee under the Colson deed of trust of April 16, 1914 Mary J. Perrigo of Billerica, wife of Elmer E. Perrigo 527/537
October 24, 1914 Declaration of Trust Charles H. McIntire of Lowell, with Martha J. McIntire The heirs of George F. Colson (beneficiaries) 528/79
May 1, 1916 Quitclaim Mary J. Perrigo of Billerica, with her husband Elmer E. Perrigo releasing curtesy and homestead Walter A. Perrigo of Billerica 554/368
August 16, 1916 Quitclaim Walter A. Perrigo of Billerica Ellen M. Guyette of Lowell 560/35
October 2, 1916 Quitclaim Ellen M. Guyette of Lowell, unmarried John Muir of Manchester, New Hampshire 561/552
August 6, 1918 Quitclaim John Muir of Manchester, New Hampshire, with his wife Jeanie Muir releasing dower and homestead Wallace W. Brown of Billerica 591/156
November 5, 1921 Quitclaim Wallace W. Brown of Billerica, with his wife Jeanie F. Brown releasing dower and homestead Harrison M. Rainie of Billerica 652/309
1924 Taking County Commissioners for the County of Middlesex Town of Billerica (public way) 709/12
June 15, 1940 Quitclaim Harrison M. Rainie of Billerica, with his wife Alice B. Rainie releasing dower and homestead Fred M. Wicks and Nina O. Wicks, husband and wife, of Billerica, tenants by the entirety 946/369

Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.